The Importance Of Athena In Homer's Odyssey

In the epic The Odyssey, Odysseus, the ill-fated hero, has always been seen by others as an insightful man. In Book 13, lines 341-347, Athena praises Odysseus’s keen nature when he first awakens on the shore of Ithaca, right after he realizes he is speaking to a goddess. This passage reveals his cunning identity, why Athena is involved in his story, and most notably, demonstrates that Odysseus is likely reflecting, not only on the suffering he has endured, but on the advice he has received along his travels, and wondering whose advice is wisest to follow. Athena begins by flattering Odysseus by crying out “Ah, that mind of yours!” Odysseus has been presented throughout the Odyssey as a sly, capable man, making him a powerful, and famous warrior.

He does not “rush to his house to see his children and wife.” His restraint is a testament to the fact that Odysseus, in Athena’s eyes, is somehow above the average man. She is giving her approval to him for not giving in to his natural, fatherly urges, thereby proving that he is the “god-like” man that everyone respects. In fact, Odysseus does not even “want to hear how they are,” considering he is too busy wondering whether or not he has indeed landed in Ithaca, and puzzling over what land he could’ve possibly ended up on. Odysseus seems to be doubting the fact that this day of homecoming could have ever arrived. He refuses to run home due to him being unaware that he is home. But, he also stays away because he has already been warned that home is a dangerous place to be, both directly, by Tiresias, who claimed that he would find trouble in his house, and indirectly, by the tale of Agamemnon, who was slaughtered by his wife during a

Agamemnon, for instance, has told him to not tell his wife everything that has happened and to keep some things hidden, effectually keeping him in the mindset that he had to adopt at Troy. Odysseus’s mother, Anticlea, however, claims that he should go home and tell his wife of all his sorrow and suffering, and that the storytelling, in fact, may work to bring them closer after his being gone for so long. Finally, Tiresias does not explicitly tell him what will happen in his personal relationship with Penelope, but he does warn him that when he arrives home after a long, hard journey, he will be a broken man, and he will then have to battle the suitors, again, keeping him a part of the Iliadic world. Odysseus is likely also contemplating the fact that he will have to face his family after being gone for almost ten years. Telemachus has grown up without a father, Penelope without her husband, and Odysseus will have to reconnect with them both, perhaps the most decisive battle of them